I’m still buried under 6 feet of snow (not really, this is the Pacific Northwest, more like 3 inches of rain we don’t get bad winters here but it’s a trade off since the summers are nonexistent but don’t tell that to the people with yard sales to them this is Antarctic weather.). So enjoy the eye candy for now.   I’m now on twitter for the new year and seem to only attract  Russian sex workers, I feel like man crack. Search for Yearofthetrack in browse categories.

Posted by gregg-n at 7:32 AM PST

Updated: Sunday, 15 January 2012 6:28 AM PST

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New Years, I’m only posting this because I don’t want this webpage to be like my neighbor’s house who doesn’t remove his Christmas decorations until Martin Luther King day.

Posted by gregg-n at 2:32 PM PST

Updated: Friday, 30 December 2011 2:38 PM PST

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Happy Merry Holiday Christmas! While some people are obsessing on the war on Christmas the silent war on holidays doesn’t seems to get much press. So I figure I’d go neutral. Not a creature is stirring not even a tape, so I figure I’d dig out a few fun items for the season like this Panasonic Panapet and this flying saucer speaker, I think they were manufactored a decade apart but they seem to go together nicely.

And to keep it 8 tracky and sort of follow a 6 degrees of 8 tracks, we started with moon zoom sled, then went to a flying saucer speaker, and end with a fun SL Stereo 8 AM/FM tape player mother ship. The tape in it is the soundtrack Star Trek The Wrath of Kahn but in hindsight I think that ELO tape with the colorful UFO would be a better choice.

Posted by gregg-n at 2:29 PM PST

Updated: Wednesday, 21 December 2011 4:05 PM PST

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It’s been a strange holiday season, usually around this time the only thing remotely yard saley I seem to find are those folksy craft fairs where old ladies roll toilet paper tubes in glitter and glue that become an instant Christmas ornaments, but either people are getting desperate for money or there is some kind of agnostic garage sale connection going on. I consider this a better present than that annual Ross gift certificate I get I never end up redeeming. Last week there were 5 sales and even with that pittance I found 5 8 metal track tapes from a guy around my age who looked like he could be the drummer of any of those bands. At first I thought it was fun that he was still dressing up like a head banger from the 80’s with a denim vest and all kinds of band and motorcycle patches and looked like he’d been rock and rolling all night  but then thought it was a little sad that he hasn’t moved on since high school.  When I was 18 I did the whole Sex Pistols spiky hair, torn up shirts thing and now the last time I think saw Johnny Rotten he was a being sued on Judge Judy years ago.

Next was my favorite type of sale, the one where the parents move on and the kids inherit a house that is out of touch with their taste and everything that isn’t nailed down is sold. I don’t know what they call these chrome lamps but they must have been big in the 70’s since I’ve found 2 other similar to them but this is the first hanging type that will look spiffy in the dining hall. And for me it really subscribes to that that whole form follows function since my parrots are going to love perching on the shiny "S" brackets.

Posted by gregg-n at 6:47 PM PST

Updated: Friday, 16 December 2011 4:08 PM PST

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There’s a schizophrenic guy who comes to the junk store every few months who buys tons of vinyl, I’m not a big talker so I like the way he comes in and I just say hi and he’ll go into these endless deep crazy religious rants from clues around him. For instance,  he thinks the song American Woman by the Guess Who is Gods way of warning America that the end times are coming he also said that he found his salvation in a Playboy magazine fold out who’s middle name is the same as his and calls  it a divine calling. I’m jealous of him since his so happy and overly pleasant. Even though he has a way of emptying the store of people when he walks in.  But I do take issue on his on his braggart drama queen delusions of grandeur statements that pepper his speeches. He has veins on his arm that if you use your imagination look like an H and a V which he sees as him being a prophet destine for heaven.  I think he might be channeling 6 time British golf open winner pro Harry Vardon. He also boasts that he sings just like the Beatles and I’m going to have him sing Let It Be next time he shows up.

Anyway I ran into him at an estate sale and his people removing effect worked there too. I almost felt sorry for the woman running it having to fain interest in his Waldorf word salad.  But the good thing is once the people left it was just him and me and since I’ve built up immunity to his ways I just sat back and enjoyed the ride in a nearly vacant sale. I just may bring him with me every week and he can clear out the sales leaving me to all the good stuff before the pickers rape it clean.

This week I found a cool combination 8 track demagnetizer cleaner cart that plugs into the wall. If only they could make one that repaired those broken splices too I’d be so onboard. I did make the mistake of not turning down the volume on the player when I was cleaning it and heard a loud buzzinging noise that was like pre-feedback on a pa system. It still sounded better than the Rod Steward Do You Think I’m Sexy tape that was in the player before.

Posted by gregg-n at 7:53 AM PST

Updated: Monday, 5 December 2011 7:56 AM PST

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The 8 track goes Hollywood in a recent 2.5 Men episode, with a Weltron and stack of tapes, I don’t know the purpose of having it on a 2011 program but I’m sort of inclined to think Aston brought some of his That 70s Show entourage with him when he was hired, either that or there was some Stockholm syndrome on the set and he couldn’t part with it and demanded  its inclusion. Either way, bitchen.

Posted by gregg-n at 7:09 AM PST

Updated: Friday, 25 November 2011 7:10 AM PST

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A sign the economy is improving is my beloved Wal-Mart Christmas village shops are now being made again after a year hiatus. This one is modern and has the new Wal-Mart color palate of those dull earth tones rather than the old blue and white which I miss the same way I miss McDonalds red and yellow that now looks like a pacific south west cuisine restaurant with the mud red.  Also the typographic is a bit sloppy but if I was painting one of these in a Chinese sweat shop I may do the same thing. What gives me a giggle is the Salvation Army worker in the corner seems to be dressed like Mary Poppins in Victorian England. “Can you spare a shilling "Gov'nuh'?” Get yours soon since when I got there not a single one could be found at the main display and the department manager said the other depts. were hijacking them to their stations for a holly jolly time, it’s criminal.

Posted by gregg-n at 3:16 PM PST

Updated: Tuesday, 15 November 2011 3:18 PM PST

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No 8 tracks this week but I found a cool 24 inch tuna wall hanging (I’m already looking for a Charlie Tuna sculpture to hang with it.). I’m usually against displaying dead animals on the mantle (vegetarian over 20 years now) but these fish are made out of wood and maybe the only real fish thing on them are the teeth that I hope are from a fish I fed my cat long ago. And don’t be fooled by the artsy douchey white frame around it, that came with this house when the last owner put a mirror up and instead of taking it off to paint decided to just work around it.

This blog will make it to 12 years next month and the only reason I mention it is I read the average lifespan of a blog is 44 days. I like it but I’ve noticed in web history that communication seems to be getting shorter and shorter. First they started out with web pages, then went to Blogs, then they became social websites, on to 140 characters on twitter and lately they’ve become happy faces or thumbs up or down.  So I think the challenge is to find something shorter than that and you’ll be the next internet billionaire.

Posted by gregg-n at 8:54 AM PDT

Updated: Tuesday, 25 October 2011 9:03 AM PDT

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More quad stuff fell in my lap this week, this time it’s a Superscope Quadrascope GRT 400 receiver at one of those yard sales when they ask you “How much is it worth to you?” when you ask how much it costs.  I don’t know if they mean financially or emotionally, either way $10 made him very happy.

It has one of those knob sound controllers that remind me of the mouse on those old laptops around about 10 years ago. Also like all good 70s stereo equipment it weighs twice as much as it should. I hooked up the quad headphones (2 speakers in each ear) and attached the cassette to 8 track accessory and then put the mp3 to cassette car tools and ended up listening to a pod cast on my Zune.  It was a lot like using reptile DNA to bring back a dinosaur but it took the world of light weight portable sound to a time when you had to earn your listening experience. Also where is the treble and bass switches on an IPod?

Posted by gregg-n at 4:40 PM PDT

Updated: Wednesday, 19 October 2011 5:01 PM PDT

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The last week of summer yard sales ended in a good 8 track way. It’s been so long since I’ve found anything remotely interesting tape wise but last week, not too shabby. It was one of those sales where the sign on the big box of tapes said $2 each and after twelve everything was going to be half price. I got there at 10 and since I’m probably the only person in to these I decided to risk it and come back at noon for some deals. Good stuff too, Deep Purple’s first record, Black Sabbath, The Tubes, Kraftwork, Devo, a Pink Floyd boot, a K-tel I didn’t have and a cool electronic tape called Black Mass by Lucifer that sounds best when you turn out the lights for mood and drink out of a challis. 

Now it’s on to the dreaded fall and winter sales that are absent of lemonade stands and like a ghoul I wait for people to pass on so I can queue and hour in the frozen cold then ravage their estate sales then go back into hiding. I’m one Hope Diamond away from retirement.

Posted by gregg-n at 6:32 PM PDT

Updated: Friday, 23 September 2011 7:02 AM PDT

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